German Army study foresees: 1. increasing oil prices that will reduce consumption and economic output (i.e. a recession or worse); 2. increasing transportation costs that will lead to lower trade volumes – less income for many and unaffordable food for some (cost-push inflation); and 3. pressure on government budgets

There is tremendous economic waste and human hardship in an economy that is operating well below full capacity. The goods and services that are not produced, the wages and business income that is not earned, and the revenues not received are lost forever.

…the Galveston plan gave some participants more retirement funds? Well perhaps it is due in part to the fact that this plan is a defined contribution plan whereas Social Security is a defined benefits plan…

"There is every reason to believe that the worst is yet to come. The rising working-age poverty rate is presumably linked to the sharp increase in long-term unemployment. The percentage of unemployed who have been out of work for six months or more has been stuck well above 40 percent throughout the faltering recovery. At times long-term unemployment has been nearly double the previous post-World War II peak. The lag in reporting unemployment data is much shorter than for the annual poverty numbers. Already, long-term unemployment has averaged 44.2 percent of all unemployed in 2011, up from 43.3 percent in 2010. That in itself suggests that the working-age poverty rate for 2011 is likely to be even higher when the report finally comes out next September."